Part 6

made you dwell in it generat ion afte r genera tion so tha t He

sees what you w ill do. Therefore, beware of the li fe of this

wo rld and beware of wo men." Then he reponed the rest of the

se rmo n an d he sa id: The n whc n it was sunse t, he sa id, "Ve rily,

the like ness of what remai ns of the life of thi s world, compared

to wha t has passcd of it , is as the likeness of wha t remains of

this da y, co mpared to wha t has passed of it." tI )

The n Imam A hmad narrated on the aut hority of Ab u Sa'eed

AI·Khudri 4> that the Messc nger of All ah ~ led LI S in the 'Asr

prayer one day and then he stood up and delivered a se rmon

10 us whi ch lasted until sunset; during thi s se rmon , he di d not

neglect to mention anything o r the eve nts whic h wil l occ ur up

un til the Day o f Resurrect ion. Some of us mcmorized it and

others forgot it. One of the things that he said was, "0 peop le!

Veri ly, the life of thi s world is green and beautiful and ve ril y,

Alla h has made you dwe ll in it genera tion after generation so

that I-Ie sees what you will do. Therefore, beware of the life

of thi s world and bewa re of women," Th en he reported the

rest of the sermon and he said, ''Then as the su n was abollt

to sc t, he sai d, "Ve ri ly, what remain s of the life of this worl d,

in comparison w ith what has already passed of it is like what

remain s of thi s day, in compari son w ith what has a lready passed

ofit."(2) T his is w ha t has bee n recorded and Al lah knows belter.

( t) This is :l WI!;Jk Iwdeclh T13rralCd by Ahmad (10759).

(2) This is a weak hadeetll narrated by Ahmad (1 1193); in its chain of nar-

r:IlOrs is one' Ali Ibn Zaid Ibn Jud'an. of whom Ahmad and Ibn Ma'cell

said. "He is not strong (i.c., he is weak):'

Chapter On The Words of Allah, M ost High:

( Allah is the Creator of all tllings ... )

A ll ah, the Most Hi g h, says inl-Ji s Nob le Boo k: ( A ll ah is the

Crea tor of all thin gs and I-Ie is the Wakeel (Trustee, Di sposer

of affa irs, Gua rd ian , etc.) over all thi ngs ) (Soorah Az-Zul1Ior

39: 62 ). So everything besides Allah was crea ted by Him, is

under His Dominion and His Disposal, and was brought into

bein g, hav ing prev iously not ex isted.

The Throne, whic h is the ce ili ng of all crea ted th ings, including

everything that lies beneath th e Earth and all that ex ists between

it and th e Throne - whether an imate or inanimate - all of it

is His Crea ti on, His Kin gdom, His slaves and all arc under

. llJe.\'criprioll offill! erell/ioll oj,II" TIIIVIlf'. ,III.! 37

I-lis Subjugation and His Po wer and they are subject to His

Disposal and His Will. ( He it is \Vhu crc.lt ed the heaven s

and the Ea rlh in six days a nd then rose (is/mjla) ove r th e

T hrone, He knows wlHlt goes in to th e Eart h and what

comes fort h from it, and w hal desce nd s from th e hea vc n

~H1d what asc end s therclo. A nd 1·lc is wit h you whcrcsocvc l'

you m ay be, A nd A llah is th e AII-Scein g of what Y01l do. )

Th e schola rs of Islam, withou t exception, are in eo mpl etc

agrcement - and no Muslim has th e sli ght est doubt of this -

that Allah c rc~lIed the heavens and the Earth and all th at lies

between thcm in six days, as pro ven by the Noble Qur'an. But

they differed as to whether thesc days arc like Earth ly days,

or whcther ea ch day is eq ui va lcnt to a thousand yea rs of what

you reckon. (I) In thi s mattcr, the scholars arc di vided into two

cam ps, as we have made clear in the tafseer of thi s Verse and

we shall explain thi s in the re leva nt place.

They also differed regarding th e ques ti on of whether or not

there existed any creation before th e fonna ti on of the heavens

and the Earth. Some groups among the rati onalist theologians

supported the idea that nOlhing existed before the m and that

they were created from abso lute nothingness. Ot hers said that

no. before the creation of th e heavens and the Earth the re were

other creations; and they based this clai m on the Wo rds of Allah,

Most Hi!!h, ( A nd He it is \-V ho has cre~lled the hea ve ns and

the Eart h in s ix d~lyS and 1·lis T hron e was over the w:l tcr.

) (SoO/'all !-Iood 11 :7). In th e Imelee/It narrated by ' Imran Ibn

Husain it was stated th at "Nothin g existed before Allah and His

Th rone was over the water. He wrote everything in the Tablet.

(I ) Sec Sovrtlh AI-I/ajj 22:47.

38 .\ D l'.H:ripli(J11 oflhe Creatioll (llI/I!! Throne. the

then He created the hea vens and the Earth." (I)

These peop le di sag reed rega rding wh ich of them was created

So me said that the Pcn was created before a ll of these things

and this was the pre ferred view of Ibn Jaree r At-Tabari, Ibn

A I-Jawzi and oth ers. Ibn Jareer said: "A fler th e Pen, the fine

cloud s, and after it, the Throne." They cited as proof for thi s

Ih e fwdeelh narrated by Imam Ahmad, Abu Oawood and A t-

Tirmidhi , on the au thority of ' Ubada h Ibn As-Sa mit -to, who

sa id: The Messenger of A ll ah ~ said, "The first thing that

Allah created was the Pen, th en I-Ie said to it , ' Write. ' In that

very hour all that was to occur (was written) up to th e Day

o f Resurrection. " (l) Thi s is the wording of Ahmad 's na rration

and At-Tinnidhi sa id of the /wdeeth , "(I t is) /wsGIl-saheeh-

The opinion of the majority of scholars. according 10 wha t

has been Iransmiu(:d by AI-Hafi z Abu l-' A la ' AI-Hamdani and

othe rs, is that the Throne was created before th at a nd this is wha t

was narrated by Ibn Jareer (J) via Ad-Dahhak , on the authorit y

of Ibn ' Abbas .1;c, as provcn by the hadeeth narrated by Mu slim

in hi s Saheeh, in which it W,IS reported on the a utho rity of

' Abd ullah Ibn 'A mr Ibn A I-'As ~ that he sa id : I heard the

Messe nger of A lla h ~ say, "A llah orda ined the measures of

the creation fifty th ousand years before He created the heavens

and the Earth - w hile I-lis Throne was over th e waler." (~ ) Th ey

(I ) The takhreej ha!> already becn givcn.

(2) This hadeeth has been narrated mn hcntieally due to other supporting

narrations (salwell liglwirilli); il WIIS narrated by Ahmad in his MII.wwd

(3) Narrated by Ibn Jarcer in hi s Tared" ( 1/39).

(4) Narrated by M uslim in the lJook uf AI-Qadar, in Ihe Chapter: The Ex-

A f)l'.w:riplion o(lh(' erea/ion oflhe TIIIVIIC, Ihe 39

said that thi s IOqdeer was Hi s writing of th e measu res with the

Pell. This hadeel" proves that thi s took place aft er th e creation

or the Thro nc, so it is confirm ed th althc crea tion of th e Th rone

preceded th at of the Pen, with whieh the measures were

writt en - and thi s is the o pinion o f th e majorit y of sc ho lars.

The J/Cideefh o r th e Pen mtl st there fore be unde rstood to mean

that it was the first o f the crea ted things in thi s world and thi s

is supported by the narration of AI-Bukh ari, o n th e authority of

' Inlnlll Ibn Hu sain ..& tha t he said: The people ofYcl11c n sa id to

the Messcngcr of A lIah ;t::;, "Wc have come to you to leam th e

Reli gion and to ask you abou t th e beginnin g o f this universe."

The Prophet ~ said: " There was Allah and not hing el se before

I-lim .. ." II) In another narrati o n, he said , "There was nothing

else w ith Him ... " (2) In a narrati o n tra nsmitted e lsewhere, it

was reported that he said , " I-li s Throne was ove r the water and

He wrote eve ryt hing in the Record : and I-Ie created th e heavens

and the Eart h." (3) In another ve rsio n, it was reportcd Ih al he

said. "Then He created the heavens and the Earth." \~ l They

asked him about th e beg innin g o f the creation or th e heavens

and th e Eart h and that ;s why th ey sa id: " We have com e to

you ... to ask you about the beginning of thi s uni ve rse." So he

answered on ly what th ey had asked, whi ch is why he did not

inform them abou t the c rea tion of til e Th ronc.

Sectioll Regardillg What Has Beell Said

COllcel'lling the Descriptioll of the Creatioll of

change of Arguments Between Adam and Moosa (Peace Ik Upon Them).

(I) Narrated by A l-Bukhari. in the lJook oj Ihe Oll el1 e.u. UlliIIIlCIIC!SS oj Allllh

(2) I ha\'c not found this wording in Al·Buklmri's Sahech or anywhere else.

(3) The IIIkhrecj for this lit/dee/it has already been given.

(4) The wk/lI7'ej for this Imdee/II has already bcen givcn.

40 rI D l!,lcriprio /l vI tl ll..' Cr<!(lfirJII of till! TIl/vile, tile